LOS ANGELES – Abner Mares and Miguel Flores fought by majority decision on Sunday night at Crypto.com Arena.
One judge scored the match 96-94 for Mares, but the other two judges scored the match 95-95.
Mares (31-3-2, 15 KOs), who is originally from Guadalajara, Mexico and now resides in Montebello, a Los Angeles suburb, was the aggressor and landed the most effective punches during the first half of the fight.
During the second round, Mares landed a counter left hook to the head that rocked Flores. Mares tried to capitalize, but Flores wisely held on to recover from the impact of the blow.
Both had their moments during the middle rounds, as the ebb and flow produced decent trades. During this time, Flores began to walk around Mares, starting exchanges between the two wrestlers.
“Obviously it had been more than four years, so I was a little bit out of time and a little bit slow,” Mares said after the fight. “But I felt good and I thought I was landing the biggest punches.”
As the fight progressed, Mares slowed down. His punches didn’t have the same effect and Flores knocked him down, forcing Mares to fight with his back foot. Flores did the best job of him during the last three rounds, which he clearly won. After the final bell rang to end the fight, they both raised their arms and hugged each other.
Flores, who is originally from Morelia, Mexico and now resides in Houston, Texas, drops to 25-4-1, 12 KOs.
Mares was returning to action on Sunday after not having fought since his second fight against Leo Santa Cruz in June 2018. In January 2019, Mares underwent surgery on his right eye to repair a detached retina. The surgery postponed a planned fight against undefeated Gervonta “Tank” Davis for later that year.
In an exclusive interview with Ring Magazine’s Joe Santoloquito, Mares claimed that he returned to the ring on his own. He has provided color commentary for Showtime for the past two years.
Mares is a far cry from his best days in the ring when he won world title belts in three different weight classes. It would be hard for him to get a fight against a legitimate 135-pound fighter.
“I didn’t have any problems there,” Mares said. “I felt good, I was getting used to the moment again. After four years, I did enough to beat a little boy and an active fighter. My performance speaks for itself. The crowd was happy and it felt good to be home. I definitely felt like I won, but it is what it is, the judges saw it as a draw.”
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County, California, Star newspaper. He can be contacted by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing
